John Bourdon (1886 - 1972)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during John's lifetime.

In 1886, in the year that John Bourdon was born, on June 13th, the "Great Vancouver Fire" destroyed most of Vancouver, British Columbia. A small brush fire got out of control and spread to the rest of the city. Dozens of people died and it was only after the fire that money was raised for a fire hall. The local Squamish tribe rescued people who had jumped into bodies of water to escape the conflagration.

In 1892, John was only 6 years old when on January 1st, Ellis Island opened to process immigrants. 700 passed through on the first day - in the first year, 450,000 were processed. The processing center was originally a 3 story wooden building - with outbuildings - that burned down a few years later.

In 1903, at the age of 17 years old, John was alive when the Ford Motor Company was incorporated in June after Henry Ford left another car company he founded in 1901 (which became the Cadillac Motor Company). He began Ford Motor Company with $28,000 in cash from twelve investors, two of whom (the Dodge brothers) later began their own car company. Henry Ford improved on assembly line techniques and has been so successful that his family still controls a very popular Ford line of cars and trucks.

In 1967, when he was 81 years old, between June 5th and 10th, Israeli and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria fought what came to be called the "Six-Day War". The hostilities began when Israel launched "preemptive" strikes against Egypt, destroying nearly its entire air force. It ended with Israel occupying the Sinai Peninsula, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and West Bank.

In 1972, in the year of John Bourdon's passing, on June 17th, 5 men were arrested by police in an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington D.C.’s Watergate hotel. The burglars were found to be paid by cash from a slush fund used by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President - the official organization of President Nixon's campaign.